FACTS  AND  CONSIDERATIONS 

RELATING 

rL\    I  ft 


AT  a  time  like  the  present,  when  the  notes  of  mili- 
tary preparation  are  heard  throughout  our  once 
peaceful  land,  and  strenuous  efforts  are  making  to  in- 
duce our  young  men  to  enlist  themselves  for  battle,  it 
may  be  well  to  pause,  and  calmly,  and  seriously  ask 
ourselves,  WHAT  is  WAR  ? 

If  we  hear  of  it  only  at  a  distance,  or  read  the  ac- 
counts which  are  given  of  it,  our  ideas  of  its  real  cha- 
racter will  be  very  erroneous.  It  is  the  policy  of  those 
who  are  most  active  in  beginning  and  carrying  on 
war,  to  dress  it  up  in  glowing  and  deceptive  colours, 
in  order  to  hide  its  native  deformity,  that  they  may 
the  more  easily  induce  persons  to  enlist  in  it.  If 
delineated  in  its  true  character,  with  all  its  injus- 
tice and  wickedness ;  its  savage  cruelties,  its  bar- 
barous murders,  its  miseries  and  sorrows,  few 
would  be  found  to  engage  in  so  dreadful  an  em- 
ploy. Hence  nearly  all  the  public  accounts  which  we 
see  of  it,  represent  it  as  little  more  than  a  splendid 
game  played  between  nations,  in  which  laurels  are  to 
be  reaped,  glory  won,  and  booty  taken.  We  are  told 
of  the  discipline  and  bravery  of  the  troops,  the  splen- 
dor of  the  equipage,  the  thrilling  sounds  of  the  music, 
the  noble  appearance  and  high  bearing  of  the  army, 
the  skill  with  which  the  battle  was  fought,  the  glory 
of  the  victory,  and  the  magnificence  of  the  triumph. 

Let  us  draw  aside  this  gorgeous  but  flimsy  cover- 
ing— let  us  turn  from  the  romance  to  the  reality,  and 
contemplate  war  as  it  is — as  the  soldier  meets  and 
finds  it  on  the  march,  in  the  camp,  and  in  the  field. 

Of  the  multitudes  who  thoughtlessly  enlist  in  armies, 
there  are  probably  few  individuals,  who,  if  called  upon 
deliberately  to  destroy  a  fellow  creature  whom  they 
had  never  before  seen,  and  who  had  not  been  convict- 
ed of  a  crime,  would  not  shudder  and  revolt  at  the 


2  Facts  and  Considerations  relating  toWar. 

commission  of  such  a  deed.  Men  whose  moral  sen- 
sibilities would  be  shocked  at  the  idea  of  imbruing 
their  hands  in  the  blood  of  an  innocent  person,  will 
yet,  with  a  strange  inconsistency,  hasten  to  the  field 
of  battle,  armed  with  deadly  weapons,  for  the  very 
purpose  of  killing  their  fellow  men,  to  whom  they  are 
utter  strangers,  and  who  have  never  offended  them. 
The  more  of  these  men  they  destroy,  the  louder  claims 
they  make  upon  the  plaudits  of  their  country,  and 
boast  themselves  upon  the  fact  of  having  ushered  into 
eternity,  unprepared  perhaps,  many  of  their  fellow 
candidates  for  everlasting  life. 

It  is  natural  and  proper  for  us  to  enquire  by  what 
means  an  act,  which  in  times  of  peace  would  be  de- 
clared to  be  murder  in  the  highest  degree,  and  pun- 
ished with  the  most  severe  penalty  that  the  law 
can  inflict,  as  a  crime  of  the  deepest  dye,  is,  in  a 
state  of  warfare,  transmuted  into  a  virtue  demanding 
the  meed  of  praise.  The  act,  in  itself,  and  in  the  aw- 
ful consequences  it  produces  to  the  unhappy  victim, 
is  precisely  the  same  in  war  as  in  peace — the  only 
difference  is  in  the  relations  existing  between  the  two 
nations  to  which  the  slayer  and  the  slain  belong.  No 

food  citizen  will  hesitate  for  a  moment  to  admit,  that 
illing  a  man  in  the  time  of  peace  is  a  gross  violation 
of  the  law  of  God,  as  well  as  the  law  of  the  land — 
and  the  simple  question  which  remains  to  be  answered 
is,  whether  the  declaration  of  war  by  one  country 
against  another,  suspends  and  superse*des  the  Divine 
law,  so  that  it  ceases  to  be  murder  for  the  citizens  to 
kill  each  other. 

If  the  rulers  of  a  nation  possess  any  power  thus  to 
supersede  the  Divine  law,  it  must  be  sought  in  the 
New  Testament;  it  must  come  from  the  Divine  Law- 
giver himself — they  could  not  grant  to  others  what 
they  had  not  themselves.  Now  it  is  plain  that  no 
man,  however  high  his  station,  or  great  his  influ- 
ence, possesses  the  power  to  suspend  the  opera- 
tion of  God's  moral  laws ;  and  consequently,  unless 
it  can  be  shown  that  the  New  Testament  has  conferred 
such  a  power  upon  governments,  they  must  be  desti- 
tute of  it. 


Facts  and  Considerations  relating  to  War.  3 

Jt  is  true  that  in  the  inscrutable  wisdom  of  His  pro- 
vidence, the  Almighty  was  at  times  pleased,  under  a 
former  dispensation,  to  permit  and  to  authorize  war  for 
the  punishment  of  nations  for  their  wickedness :  but 
this  is  no  warrant  for  us  to  fight.  We  can  plead  no 
such  authority ;  we  are  living  under  that  administra- 
tion of  grace  and  truth  which  came  by  Jesus  Christ. 
The  whole  tenor  of  his  life  and  of  his  precepts,  was 
in  strict  accordance  with  the  heavenly  anthem  which 
ushered  in  his  glorious  advent;  "Glory  to  God  in  the 
highest — and  ON  EARTH  PEACE — GOOD  WILL  TOWARDS 
MEN."  There  is  no  one  feature  more  strikingly  appa- 
rent in  the  precepts  of  the  Divine  Lawgiver,  than  the 
peaceable  nature  of  the  religion  which  he  taught.  In 
his  memorable  sermon  on  the  mount,  he  commands  his 
followers,  "  LOVE  YOUR  ENEMIES,  bless  them  that  curse 
you,  do  good  to  them  that  hate  you;  and  pray  for  them 
which  despitefully  use  you  and  persecute  you." 

These  commands  of  Christ  are  too  plain  to  admit 
of  evasion — too  positive  to  allow  of  any  compromise. 
They  demand  our  prompt  and  unqualified  obedience. 
They  are  as  imperative  on  nations  and  rulers,  as  they 
are  on  the  humblest  individual  in  private  Mfe;  and  they 
admit  of  no  explanations  which  weaken  their  obliga- 
tion. How  then  can  we  kill  those  whom  we  are  com- 
manded to  love,  or  injure  those  whom  it  is  our  duty  to 
bless  and  to  benefit?  Can  any  one  suppose,  that  he 
who  goes  upon  the  field  of  battle,  to  kill  those  whom 
he  calls  the  enemies  of  his  country,  is  not  violating 
every  one  of  these  commands? 

No  lesson  is  more  clearly  taught  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, than  that  we  should  forgive  injuries.  It  is  even 
made  the  condition  on  which  we  are  to  ask,  in  our 
prayers,  for  the  forgiveness  of  our  own  sins — "  For- 
give us  our  debts,  as  we  forgive  our  debtors;"  and  we 
are  positively  assured,  "  if  ye  forgive  not  men  their 
trespasses,  neither  will  your  Father  forgive  your  tres- 
passes." How  solemn  are  the  expressions  of  Christ, 
when  speaking  of  the  punishment  of  the  unmerciful 
and  unforgiving  man;  "So  likewise  shall  my  heavenly 
Father  do  also  unto  you,  if  ye  from  your  hearts  for- 
give not  every  one  his  brother  their  trespasses."  Thus 


4  Facts  and  Considerations  relating  to  War. 

does  the  Divine  law  strike  at  the  very  root  of  revenge 
— it  forbids  all  vindictive  feelings,  even  where  an  in- 
jury has  been  committed  or  an  insult  offered,  and  by 
cutting  off  all  animosity  and  all  retaliation,  it  eradi- 
cates the  very  elements  of  war. 

"From  whence  come  wars  and  fightings'?"  says 
the  inspired  apostle:  "come  they  not  from  hence, 
even  from  your  lusts  which  war  in  your  members  ?" 
So  that  we  see  the  origin  of  them  is  in  those  fierce 
and  corrupt  passions  of  the  depraved  heart,  which  are 
totally  at  variance  with  the  example  and  precepts  of 
our  Lord,  and  which  it  is  the  very  object  of  his  blessed 
religion  to  subdue  and  eradicate. 

Instead,  therefore,  of  deriving  from  the  New  Testa- 
ment— which  all  Christians  acknowledge  to  be  a  rule 
— any  authority  for  that  assumption  of  power  by 
which  rulers  seek  to  legalize  the  destruction  of  men 
in  a  state  of  warfare,  we  find  that  the  precepts  of 
Christ  forbid  war  entirely,  as  being  wholly  at  variance 
with  the  very  nature  and  design  of  the  gospel,  which 
is  "  to  save  men's  lives,  not  to  destroy  them."  It  is 
important  that  every  man  who  is  called  upon  to  enter 
the  army,  should  seriously  consider  these  things,  and 
remember  that  on  himself  rests  the  responsibility  and 
the  consequences  of  his  own  actions.  It  will  not 
avail  him  to  plead  that  others  created  the  war,  and 
that  he  is  only  fighting  in  defence  of  his  country. 
The  declaration  of  war  cannot  suspend  the  Divine 
law,  nor  will  his  fighting  for  his  country,  excuse  him 
for  violating  the  positive  commands  of  Christ,  or  re- 
lease him  from  that  punishment  which  is  the  conse- 
quence of  such  violation. 

When  you  hear  the  thrilling  notes  of  martial  music, 
or  listen  to  the  solicitations  of  others  to  enter  with 
them  on  the  career  of  a  soldier,  turn  your  eyes  from 
the  gaudy  pageantry  of  war,  and  coolly  reflect  on  the 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  your  fellow  beings  who  are 
cruelly  butchered  on  the  field  of  battle.  Imagine  the 
groans  of  the  wounded  and  dying — the  wailing  of  the 
bereaved  widows  and  helpless  orphans,  the  misery,  the 
sorrow,  the  wickedness  and  want,  which  follow  in  the 
train  of  war; — and  then  calmly  ask  yourselves  whe- 


Facts  and  Considerations  relating  to  War.  5 

ther  as  humane  men,  or  as  Christians,  you  can  lend 
your  aid  in  the  prosecution  of  this  murderous  business. 

At  Palo  Alto,  Resaca,  and  Monterey,  thousands  of 
men  were  suddenly  hurried  out  of  time  into  eternity, 
their  hearts  burning  with  revenge  arid  malice,  and 
their  hands  reeking  perhaps  in  a  brother's  blood  ;  un- 
prepared, it  is  to  be  feared,  for  that  awful  reckoning 
with  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth,  from  which  none  can 
escape.  What  must  be  the  feelings  of  that  man,  who 
survives  this  fiend-like  conflict,  and  afterward  reflects 
that  he  was  himself,  the  instrument  of  thus  closing 
the  mortal  career  of  his  fellow  man,  and  hurrying 
him,  with  his  sins  upon  his  head,  into  the  presence  of 
his  God.  Would  not  bitter  remorse  follow  him  dur- 
ing the  remnant  of  his  days. 

But  it  is  not  in  battle  only  that  the  victims  of  this 
insatiable  demon  are  sacrificed.  War  has  means  of 
destruction,  says  Dr.  Johnson,  more  formidable  than 
the  cannon  and  the  sword.  Of  the  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  that  perish,  a  very  small  part  ever 
feel  the  stroke  of  the  enemy.  Dreadful  as  is  the  car- 
nage on  the  battle-field,  where  heaps  of  wounded  and 
slain  lie  piled  on  each  other,  while  the  earth  is  drench- 
ed with  blood,  and  covered  with  mangled  limbs  and 
flesh ;  still  the  number  is  greater  who  languish  in  tents, 
and  ships,  and  hospitals ;  amid  damps  and  filth,  and 
putrefaction,  gasping  and  groaning,  amongst  men 
made  obdurate  by  long  continuance  of  hopeless  mis- 
ery ;  and  who  are  at  last  thrown  into  pits,  or  tossed 
into  the  ocean,  without  notice  and  without  remem- 
brance. By  insufficient  and  unwholesome  food — by 
long  and  forced  marches,  by  incommodious  encamp- 
ments, in  an  unhealthy  country,  where  courage  is 
useless  and  enterprize  impracticable,  and  by  the  vices 
and  licentiousness  which  a  military  life  engenders, 
fleets  are  silently  depopulated  and  armies  melted 
away. 

A  writer  describing  the  field  of  Borodino,  says, 
"  the  fire  of  2000  pieces  of  cannon  enveloped  the  two 
armies  in  smoke,  and  mowing  down  whole  battalions, 
strewed  the  earth  with  the  dead  and  wounded.  The 
latter  fell  to  expose  themselves  to  a  fate  still  more 

1* 


6  Facts  and  Considerations  relating  to  War. 

terrible.  How  agonizing  their  situation.  Forty  thou- 
sand dragoons  galloping  over  the  field  in  every  di- 
rection, trampled  them  under  foot,  and  dyed  their 
horses  hoofs  in  their  blood.  The  flying  artillery,  in 
rapid  and  alternate  advance  and  retreat,  put  a  pe- 
riod to  the  anguish  of  some,  and  inflicted  new  tor- 
ments on  others  who  were  mangled  by  their  wheels. 
*  *  *  *  Night  separated  the  combatants,  but  left 
80,000  men  dead  upon  the  field." 

Describing  the  appearances  next  day,  he  says,  "  A 
surface  of  about  nine  square  miles  in  extent,  was 
covered  with  the  killed  and  wounded,  with  the  wreck 
of  arms,  lances,  helmets  and  cuirasses,  and  with  balls 
as  numerous  as  hail  stones  after  a  violent  storm.  Such 
was  the  havock  occasioned  by  repeated  discharges, 
that  mountains  of  dead  were  raised.  But  the  most 
dreadful  spectacle  was  the  interior  of  the  ravines, 
where  the  wounded  had  instinctively  crawled  to  avoid 
the  shot.  Here,  these  unfortunate  wretches,  lying  one 
upon  another,  destitute  of  assistance  and  weltering  in 
their  blood,  uttered  the  most  horrid  groans.  Loudly 
invoking  death,  they  besought  us  to  put  an  end  to  their 
excruciating  torments." 

Another  writer  describing  the  siege  of  Saragossa, 
says,  "  Pestilence  broke  out  as  a  matter  of  course, 
and  when  once  begun,  it  was  impossible  to  check  its 
progress,  or  confine  it  to  one  locality.  It  was  not  long 
before  more  than  thirty  hospitals  were  established. 
As  soon  as  one  was  destroyed  by  the  bombs,  the  pa- 
tients were  removed  to  some  other  building,  which 
was  in  a  state  to  afford  them  temporary  shelter,  and 
thus  the  infection  was  carried  to  every  part.  The 
daily  average  of  deaths  was  not  less  than  350.  Men, 
stretched  upon  straw,  in  helpless  misery,  lay  breathing 
their  last,  and  with  their  dying  breath  spreading  the 
mortal  taint  of  their  own  disease,  without  medicines, 
food  or  attendance  ;  for  the  ministers  of  charity  them- 
selves, became  the  victims  of  disease.  The  slightest 
wound  produced  gangrene  and  death  in  bodies  so  pre- 
pared for  dissolution  by  distress  of  mind,  want  of  pro- 
per aliment  and  of  sleep; — for  there  was  no  respite 
either  by  day  or  night.  ******  The  cemeteries 


Facts  and  Considerations  relating  to  War.  7 

could  no  longer  afford  room  for  the  dead.  Large  pits 
to  receive  them  were  dug  in  the  streets  and  in  the 
courts  of  the  public  buildings,  until  hands  were  wanted 
for  the  labour;  they  were  laid  before  the  public  build- 
ings, heaped  upon  one  another,  and  covered  with 
sheets ;  arid  not  unfrequently  these  piles  of  mortality 
were  struck  by  a  shell,  and  the  shattered  bodies  scat- 
tered in  all  directions.  When  the  besieging  army  en- 
tered the  city,  six  thousand  bodies  were  lying  in  the 
streets  and  trenches,  or  piled  up  in  heaps  before  the 
churches." 

Of  the  sufferings  endured  in  marches,  the  following 
description  given  by  an  eye  witness,  will  convey  some 
idea; — "  Overwhelmed  with  whirl-winds  of  snow,  our 
soldiers  could  not  distinguish  the  road  from  the  ditch- 
es, and  often  fell  into  the  latter,  which  served  them  for 
a  tomb.  Badly  clothed  and  shod,  having  nothing  to 
eat  or  drink,  groaning  and  shivering  with  the  cold, 
they  gave  no  assistance  and  showed  no  signs  of  com- 
passion to  those  who,  sinking  from  weakness,  expired 
around  them.  Many  of  these  miserable  creatures 
struggled  hard  in  the  agonies  of  death.  Some  in  the 
most  affecting  manner,  bade  adieu  to  their  brethren  in 
arms,  and  others  with  their  latest  breath  pronounced 
the  names  of  their  mothers  and  of  their  country. 
Stretched  on  the  road,  we  could  only  see  the  heaps  of 
snow  that  covered  them,  and  formed  undulations  in 
our  route  like  those  in  a  grave-yard. 

"  Flocks  of  ravens  flew  over  our  heads,  croaking 
ominously,  and  troops  of  dogs,  which  followed  us,  and 
lived  solely  on  our  bloody  remains,  howled  around  us, 
as  if  impatient  for  the  moment  when  we  should  become 
their  prey.  Every  day  furnished  scenes  too  painful  to 
relate.  The  road  was  covered  with  soldiers,  who  no 
longer  retained  the  human  form.  Some  had  lost  their 
hearing — others  their  speech ;  and  many  by  excessive 
cold  and  hunger,  were  reduced  to  such  a  state  of  stupid 
frenzy,  that  they  roasted  the  dead  bodies  for  food,  and 
even  gnawed  their  own  hands  and  arms." 

Take  another  scene  from  an  eye  witness  and  parti- 
cipator :  "  These  horrors,  so  far  from  exciting  our 
sensibility,  only  hardened  our  hearts.  Having  no 


8  Facts  and  Considerations  relating  to  War. 

longer  the  power  of  exercising  our  cruelty  on  our 
enemies,  we  turned  it  on  each  other.  The  best  friends 
were  estranged ;  and  whoever  experienced  the  least 
sickness,  was  certain  of  never  seeing  his  country 
again,  unless  he  had  good  horses  and  faithful  servants. 
Securing  the  plunder  was  preferred  by  most  to  the 
pleasure  of  saving  a  comrade.  We  heard  around  us 
the  groans  of  the  dying,  and  the  plaintive  voices  of 
those  who  were  abandoned  ;  but  all  were  deaf  to  their 
cries  and,  if  any  one  approached  them,  even  when  on 
the  point  of  death,  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  stripping 
them,  and  searching  whether  they  had  any  remains  of 
food." 

"  Among  the  burning  houses,  were  three  large  barns 
filled  with  soldiers,  chiefly  wounded.  They  could  not 
escape  from  two  of  them,  without  passing  through  the 
one  in  front,  which  was  on  fire.  The  most  active  saved 
themselves  by  leaping  out  of  the  windows,  but  those 
who  were  sick  or  crippled,  not  having  strength  to 
move,  saw  the  flames  advancing  rapidly  to  devour 
them.  Touched  by  their  shrieks,  some  who  were  the 
least  hardened,  endeavoured  in  vain  to  save  them,  but 
we  could  scarcely  see  them,  half  buried  under  the 
burning  rafters.  They  entreated  us  to  shorten  their 
sufferings  by  depriving  them  of  life  ;  and  from  motives 
of  humanity  we  thought  it  our  duty  to  comply  with 
their  wishes ! ! !  As  there  were  some  who  still  sur- 
vived, we  heard  them  with  feeble  voices  crying.  "  Fire 
wi  us—.Jire  on  us ! — at  the  head !  at  the  head  I  don't 
miss  /" 

How  awful  is  this  picture !  how  does  war  harden 
the  heart,  steel  it  against  the  cry  of  distress — render 
it  insensible  to  the  awful  realities  of  death  and  eternity, 
and  exemplify  the  truth  of  that  Scripture  declaration, 
"  The  tender  mercies  of  the  wicked  are  cruel." 

Such  are  some  of  the  horrid  scenes  which  the  march 
of  an  army  presents,  and  if  the  written  delineation  fills 
us  with  horror,  how  much  more  shocking  must  it  be 
to  witness  and  to  suffer  the  dreadful  reality. 

Nor  is  a  hospital  much  less  terrible.  An  eminent 
surgeon,  present  in  the  hospitals  after  the  battle  of 
Waterloo,  says,  "  The  soldiers  who  had  in  the  morning 


Facts  and  Considerations  relating  to  War. 


been  moved  by  the  piteous  cries  of  those  they  carried 
in,  I  saw  in  the  evening,  so  hardened  by  the  repetition 
of  the  scene,  and  by  fatigue,  as  to  become  indifferent 
to  the  sufferings  they  occasioned.  It  is  impossible  to 
conceive  the  sufferings  of  men  rudely  carried  at  such 
a  period  of  their  wounds.  When  I  first  entered  the 
hospital,  the  men  had  been  roused  and  excited  in  an 
extraordinary  degree  ;  and  in  the  glance  of  their  eyes 
there  was  a  character  of  fierceness,  which  I  never 
expected  to  witness  in  the  human  countenance.  On 
the  second  day  the  temporary  excitement  had  sub- 
sided, and  turn  which  way  I  would,  I  encountered 
every  form  of  entreaty  from  those  whose  condition 
left  no  need  of  words  to  stir  compassion.  "  Surgeon 
Major !  O  how  I  suffer  !  Dress  my  wounds — do  dress 
my  wounds !  Doctor,  I  commend  myself  to  you.  Cut 
off  my  kg.  Oh  !  I  suffer  too  much  /"  And  when  these 
entreaties  were  unavailing,  you  might  hear,  in  a  weak, 
inward  tone  of  despair,  "I  shall  die!  lam  a  dead  man!" 

In  the  hospitals  of  Wilna  there  were  left  more  than 
17,000  dead  and  dying,  frozen  and  freezing.  The 
bodies  of  the  former  were  used  to  stop  the  openings 
in  the  windows,  floors  and  walls,  and  in  one  Corridor 
of  the  Great  Convent,  above  1500  were  piled  up  trans- 
versely, like  pigs  of  lead  or  iron. 

Such  are  some  of  the  horrors  of  war !  But  per- 
haps it  will  be  said,  these  descriptions  do  not  apply  to 
the  Mexican  campaigns — there  will  be  no  such  mise- 
ries there.  Do  not  deceive  yourselves  with  such  hopes 
— war  is  very  much  the  same  every  where — climate 
or  other  attendant  circumstances  may  make  some 
little  modifications,  but  its  general  features  do  not  vary. 
Could  you  now  look  at  the  troops  who  are  enduring 
long,  painful,  and  harassing  marches,  through  an  un- 
healthy, and  in  great  measure,  uncultivated  country — 
at  the  sick,  the  wounded,  the  dying,  crowded  into  un- 
comfortable quarters,  with  little  or  no  attendance,  and 
few  of  the  comforts  which  their  diseased  and  helpless 
condition  demands,  you  would  perceive,  that  war  at 
Palo  Alto,  Monterey,  or  Resaca,  is  the  same  cruel  and 
destructive  business  that  it  was  at  Borodino,  Sara- 
gossa,  and  Waterloo.  In  proportion  to  the  numbers 


«>  *<*t 

10         Facts  and  Considerations  relating  to  War. 

engaged,  the  carnage  and  the  miseries  were  probably 
quite  as  great  at  the  former  as  at  the  latter  places. 

A  member  of  Congress  in  a  speech  lately  delivered 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  describing  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  volunteers  who  had  been  discharged 
by  General  Taylor,  says,  "  Of  all  the  emaciated,  walk- 
ing skeletons  ever  beheld,  these  surpassed.  They 
were  discharged  because  they  were  utterly  unfit  for 
duty.  A  campaign  on  the  Rio  Grande  had  rendered 
them  thus  incompetent,  and  their  discharge  under  these 
circumstances,  was  an  act  of  good  sense  and  of  huma- 
nity. Had  not  General  Taylor  discharged  them  when 
he  did,  death  would  very  soon  have  done  it  for  him." 

But  the  moral  evils  of  war  are  not  less  terrible ! 
Bad  as  many  men  are  who  enlist  in  armies,  war  makes 
them  worse.  The  recruit  begins  his  degradation  even 
in  the  rendezvous,  and  he  rapidly  grows  more  wicked 
in  the  camp.  There  vice  becomes  his  occupation: 
His  worst  passions  are  fostered,  and  unbridled  license 
given  to  the  exercise  of  them.  Those  restraints  which 
kept  them  in  check  while  the  man  was  in  the  bosom 
of  virtuous  society,  are  all  removed.  He  becomes 
ashamed  of  tender  feelings,  and  of  conscientious  scru- 
ples. He  dare  not  meet  the  dread  laugh  of  his  com- 
panions in  arms — he  drowns  his  convictions,  stifles 
the  stirrings  of  good  within  his  breast,  and  runs  eager- 
ly with  the  multitude  to  do  evil. 

The  business  of  a  soldier  is  to  butcher  his  fellow 
men.  He  is  hired  to  destroy  them,  and  all  his  inge- 
nuity and  skill  are  called  into  requisition  to  enable  him 
to  kill  them  in  the  most  successful  manner.  He  is  a 
wholesale,  legalized  murderer. 

"War,"  says  the  celebrated  Robert  Hall,  "is 
the  fruitful  parent  of  crimes.  It  reverses,  with  re- 
spect to  its  objects,  all  the  rules  of  morality.  It  is 
nothing  less  than  a  temporary  repeal  of  all  the  prin- 
ciples of  virtue.  It  is  a  system,  out  of  which  almost 
all  the  virtues  are  excluded,  and  in  which  nearly  all 
the  vices  are  incorporated.  Whatever  renders  human 
nature  amiable  or  respectable,  whatever  engages  love 
or  confidence,  is  sacrificed  at  its  shrine." 

Camps  are  proverbially  scenes  of  the  most  aban- 


Facts  and  Considerations  relating  to  War.         1 1 

doned  and  unblushing  wickedness.  Every  species  of 
crime  which  can  deform  or  debase  the  character  of 
man,  is  there  shamelessly  practised.  It  is  an  atmos- 
phere of  moral  pestilence,  which  corrupts  all  who 
come  within  its  baleful  influence. 

One  of  the  volunteers,  writing  from  Monterey,  dur- 
ing the  late  armistice,  remarks  :  "  If  you  would  witness 
wickedness  and  vice,  drunkenness  and  all  the  wicked 
propensities  of  the  human  heart — if  you  would  see  the 
worst  passions  with  which  our  fallen  nature  is  cursed, 
in  the  most  odious  colours,  the  American  camp,  I 
grieve  to  say,  is  the  place  where  you  may  behold 
them.  Full  many  a  bright  and  promising  youth,  who 
looked  forward  to  a  life  of  usefelness  and  honour, 
may  date  his  ruin,  it  is  greatly  to  be  feared,  from  this 
campaign — this  grand  school  of  iniquity  and  vice. 
The  ingenuous  mind  shrinks  appalled  from  the  re- 
volting scenes  daily  exposed  to  view."  ***** 

Consider  for  a  moment  the  consequences  of  volun- 
tarily placing  yourselves  within  the  influence  of  such 
corrupting  examples.  It  is  not  merely  exposing  your 
moral  and  religious  principles  to  the  imminent  danger 
of  utter  prostitution,  and  your  reputation  to  hopeless 
ruin,  but  it  is  hazarding  the  everlasting  welfare  of 
your  souls  —  that  part  which  will  never  die,  and 
which  must  be  happy  or  miserable  forever.  What 
can  compensate  you  for  encountering  so  fearful  a 
risk  ;  or  how  can  you  pray,  "  Lead  us  not  into  temp- 
tation," or-  hope  to  be  preserved  from  the  dreadful 
contamination,  if  you  thus  willingly  place  yourselves 
within  its  worst  influences  ? 

Have  you  ever  seriously  pondered  the  immea- 
surable value  of  one  immortal  soul  ?  Have  you 
reflected  upon  the  awful  words  FOREVER  AND 
EVER?  and  considered  that  when  millions  of  millions 
of  years  shall  have  passed  over,  your  unbodied  spirit 
will  be  but  as  in  the  dawn  of  its  existence,  as  full  of 
high  and  holy  hopes  and  joyful  anticipations  as  though 
its  eternity  of  bliss  was  only  that  moment  begun ; — or 
groaning  in  unutterable  woe  and  misery,  as  trem- 
blingly alive  to  hopeless  agony  and  despair,  as  when 
it  first  heard  the  awful  sentence,  "  Depart  from 


12         Facts  and  Considerations  relating  to  War. 

I  8 

me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the 

devil  and  his  angels."  These  are  solemn  realities ; 
and  well  might  the  Saviour  of  man,  He  who  knew 
better  than  any  other,  the  worth  of  an  immortal 
spirit,  exclaim,  "  What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he 
gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul ;  or  what 
will  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul  ?" 

When  solicited  to  join  the  army,  pause  and  reflect, 
that  this  precious  undying  soul,  which  is  to  be  happy 
or  miserable  forever,  will  be  jeoparded  by  your  as- 
sent— that  you  will  be  obliged  to  surrender  yourselves 
as  mere  machines,  to  the  absolute  control  and  direction 
of  officers,  and  to  do  at  their  bidding  acts  from  which 
humanity  revolts,  and  which  religion  abhors — that  the 
law  of  Christ  our  Saviour  commands  you  to  love  and  to 
pray  for,  and  to  do  good  to,  those  whom  your  offi- 
cers will  compel  you  to  shoot  through  the  head  or 
stab  to  the  heart — that  amid  these  deeds  of  blood  and 
murder,  and  the  fierce  and  malevolent  passions  which 
rage  on  the  battle  field,  you  will  yourselves  be  liable  to 
be  hurried  unprepared  into  the  presence  of  your  God 
and  Judge,  there  to  receive  that  solemn  sentence  which 
is  to  fix  unalterably  your  everlasting  destiny.  Surely, 
if  you  weigh  these  things  with  the  seriousness  which 
becomes  their  high  import,  you  will  not  hesitate  to  fol- 
low the  injunctions  of  that  blessed  book,  which  says, 
"Follow  peace  with  all  men;  and  holiness,  without 
which  no  man  can  see  the  Lord." 


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